Within Memory
by Life.exe
Summary: Number Five still does not trust Newton, yet it wants to, but the man's behaviour is not helping. Short Circuit fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

AN – _Some notes to drive you crazy:_

_It's set after the first film, probably about two weeks after the characters leave for Montana (though when I first started writing this there was no plot so the consistency of this statement may not be right, but I'll try to catch those out before I post). _

_I've added a lot of non-canon bits to this, so __**don't expect things to be accurate to the films**__. For a start, the name 'Johnny' hasn't been thought up yet, so the robot is still called Number Five. You'll find out later why I did that. ;)_

_The robot is less human, or at least I tried to make him like that and he never once says 'input' in this D: oh mai gawd his addiction is gone! No, but he's a little bit more insecure about other things instead. _

_Oh and this fic is mostly about the relationship between Number Five and Newton. Next chapters will be a bit longer._

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"I was reluctant to come back, you know."

The robot glanced up. Its multifunctional eyebrows twisted around in confusion. It did not understand why Newton said this; he had blurted it out rather randomly. Number Five was sure it had not missed any conversation, even if its mind had been completely preoccupied deciding what it wanted to do after completing this tedious assignment with Newton. Did it want to play with the dogs or pester its human friends for some attention when it got back to the house?

It really liked exploring its new surroundings, either by itself or with company, however it had not spent much alone time with Newton for the simple reason that it did not enjoy his companionship much. The man was a scientist, and Number Five now had it drilled into its altered programs that scientists were dangerous people, especially since it had unexpectedly gained consciousness in a military laboratory, and then was almost destroyed by the same people that had spent so much money and time creating it. It had been a lucky escape, with the help of young woman by the name of Stephanie, and this very man walking along beside it; yet still it found it difficult to trust him.

"Hmm?" it questioned.

"To Montana," he added hastily. Newton almost tripped on a loose stone on the forest floor and flailed his arms comically.

Number Five snickered at this; its laughter was closer to a hiss of static then the noises humans made as they expressed their amusement. Tripping or falling was almost impossible for it; only if someone deliberately pulled the robot down or if it shifted its body in a specific way could it fall on level ground, not that it was likely to allow anyone to do such a thing without good reason.

Newton glared at it. The robot gazed back, completely unfazed, knowing that it still frightened the man ever so slightly. "Was that because I got you to carry all the wood?"

"What was?" it asked. Newton was not explaining himself properly.

"Oh forget it," he snapped. He stormed out of the forest, leaving the robot standing with its arms full of blocks of firewood.

Number Five watched Newton's figure disappear into the light. It knew it had upset the man, it just did not know how, nor had it done so deliberately. It stood for a few minutes trying to process what had just happened, but did not reach any useful conclusion other than emotions were much harder to understand than mathematical functions.

It did not dwell on the thought for too long because it was, no - _they_, were supposed to gather firewood for Stephanie. But now the robot was worried about what she might think of Newton's absence since she had suggested they go together in 'an effort for them to get to know one another', and they had clearly failed that mission. Nevertheless it trundled back to hand over the wood, its ideas of playing with the animals or badgering anyone were completely wiped from its memory.


	2. Chapter 2

As expected, Stephanie asked where Newton was. But she did not ask right away; she put away the firewood with the help of Number Five first. Maybe she already knew what had happened; she seemed curiously good at figuring these things out.

"You seem very quiet. Did he upset you again?" she said as the last block was stacked on the pile.

When it did not answer she looked up at it. Number Five shrunk away slightly, disliking the emotions that were currently surfacing. The description of guilt seemed to fit the situation.

Stephanie's expression was ambiguous. She patted the robot's shoulder. "It's okay."

It felt a bit better knowing that she was not angry, but her comfort did not help it feel any better about its situation with Newton. They were living together so it would make more sense logically if they were to like one another rather than keep their current affiliation. But it did not know how to start liking a person it did not entirely trust.

It only put up with Newton because Stephanie seemed to like him. Though it did find it a strange kind of like; she seemed to hate the man at times and this only confused the robot. She could not love him, whatever it was that she felt towards him, at least it did not think so initially.

Number Five was sure it loved her and she loved it back, but it also felt that there was something deeper between Stephanie and Newton; something that it did not understand. Their relationship seemed to echo many of the relationships characters in films had, but it also realised that not all the films it watched were reliable comparisons of real life. Maybe love was just another word with more than one meaning.

"No," it said sadly.

"You're not okay?" she looked worried and took a hold of its right hand. "What's wrong?"

"_I_…upset him," it said slowly, looking away and pretending to take interest in the wooden floor by probing the knots with a finger.

"How?"

"Not know how." The robot chanced a glance at her, which turned into a curious gaze when it noticed her amused smile.

"How would you know that you upset him then? Don't worry, Number Five," she placed her hand on its shoulder instead, "he's been acting a bit strangely. I don't think you upset him."

"Really?" It suddenly perked up, and it showed in the tone of its voice. "But what?"

"I'm not sure. He's not told me."

Number Five cocked its head as it tried to figure out what was up with Newton.

"Don't." Stephanie pointed a finger at it warningly.

"Don't what?" it asked, wondering why she was saying that.

"Don't think about it all right? We just don't know so there's no point in worrying. Let's just let him cool off. He'll be back soon enough."

"But!" it protested. It needed to know what was going on.

"Five, let it go, for now at least. Go and watch TV or play with something. Just stop thinking for once; give your brain a rest." She was stroking the top of its head now, and being very delicate about it.

Number Five jerked its head back and leered, disliking the implications of the last comment. She continually brought this subject up. "Take a nap? Hibernate? Number Five _not_ sleep."

She laughed. "Five, don't lie, I've caught you almost nodding off plenty of times before."

The robot reversed half a tread length and growled. It did not intend it to sound threatening; it really could not help some of its behaviours. Stephanie was used to this though and knew fine well that Number Five would never attack anyone without reason. She did not even reprimand it. "That's not what I meant anyway," she told it.

It calmed and came forwards again.

"What have you got against going to bed anyway?" she queried.

"Is boring. Dull. Nothing to do. Is too dark outside," it explained, nodding its head to reinforce its point, though that was just a small part of the truth.

"You wouldn't be bored if you went to bed at the same time as us though," she reasoned. "Watching TV all night will get dull after a few days."

Number Five quickly glanced away. The real reason it did not sleep was because it preferred knowing that someone was on the lookout, and not just from dangers like Nova. Though the thought of Nova still terrified it and it was pretty sure that, on one of the rare times it had fallen asleep, it had woken up believing it had been recaptured and was stowed in the rear of one of their trucks. "Hmm." It looked away, unwilling to talk about it, which was unusual because it normally could talk about anything and everything.

"Go on." She waved her hand dismissively. "Go and do something fun then." Stephanie sighed, pointing it in the direction of the door. "Don't go too far though."


	3. Chapter 3

AN_: Claire is just a made up character because I decided that Newton ought to have some kind of family in this fic._

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Hours passed and Newton had still not returned home which was completely unlike him; usually he would say if he was going to be a long time or if he was going to come back after dark. Now that it was getting late Number Five was beginning to think more about him, even though it was trying not to be concerned by his prolonged absence.

It was in a field just in front of the small log house with all of Stephanie's dogs. The field was thick with mud and now the robot's treads were covered in it. It did not mind; it was having too much fun chasing after the animals whilst trying to navigate through the wet, uneven ground at high speeds to care how dirty it was. Although Stephanie was not going to be pleased about the state it was in when she saw it; even its head had been sprayed by the filth.

Every now and again it would look out down past the field trying to spot any possible sign of Newton. After a while its attempts to be unconcerned failed and it began to wonder if the man would ever come back and as time went by it found itself thinking more and more about him to the point where it was beginning to feel a bit sore processing its thoughts. Newton was the person it would need to go to if the sensation persisted, and ironically it might have been Newton's absence that was causing it. Maybe it was worry, but it must have been a pretty intense feeling to cause that.

Unsure about whether it was its fault that he left or not, the robot stopped its one-sided tag game, wondering what it should do. It was beginning to get dark, and although that did not really pose much of a problem to the robot, it could be bad for the human.

It glanced back at the house and considered its options, eventually deciding to track down Newton by itself; Stephanie would only be a hindrance, especially at this time of night, plus she was likely to try and stop it and it did not much feel like putting up with that.

The dogs ran circles around it barking excitedly as they tried to gain its attention; they did not seem to bore easily of getting chased. Number Five drove away from the field and the house, jumping over a broken bit of fencing. It had to get away before their noise alerted Stephanie. Much to its annoyance the dogs followed, tails wagging.

"Go away," it told them.

They did not understand, and continued to stare at it expectantly.

"Leave!" it snarled, pointing away and towards the house. Two of the three dogs eventually got the message and reluctantly left. The one that remained was Stephanie's small three-legged dog, Beasley. He did not seem to too willing to leave its side. The robot did not say anything or try to get rid of the animal as it was a bit glad that at least one of them stayed to keep it company.

It did not take long for it to pick up on Newton's trail; it had gone straight to where it had last seen the man and looked for any footprints, scent, or any sign of disruption. It briefly wondered if Beasley would have been better at this sort of thing; dog's sense of smell was meant to be very good after all; the only kind of sense of smell it had was more to do with detecting certain chemicals in the air rather than distinguishing individual people. Though, it could probably learn to do so if that particular sensor was more powerful. It was not really looking for Newton when it took whiffs of the air, but actually his aftershave, which Stephanie complained about to no end, and Number Five had to admit that it did have ridiculous numbers of chemicals in it.

It followed Newton's tracks downwards, past a few sheep-filled fields that did not belong to him or Stephanie. After ten minutes it began to realise that the trail was leading it through a deserted park and into to village nearby. It had never been into the village before. There were people there and it did not trust strangers so easily; most of the people it had met before were nasty, dangerous people and that only made it wary as it approached the area.

From the relative safely behind a tree it scanned its surroundings. Small wooden buildings were scattered around the area, some seemed to be homes with large gardens whilst others seemed to be commercial and had numerous items displayed in their large windows.

It could not decide whether to continue looking for Newton, or to turn back before it was spotted, almost fleeing in fear when it heard the sound of a car driving relatively close by.

Beasley was staring at it again. Number Five looked down at the dog, and stroked the top of his head. "Now what?" it asked the animal, realising that he could not really answer or understand what it was saying. But talking to the creature helped it to calm itself down.

The dog barked a few times and then trotted towards the park exit and closer to the streets in the village, wagging his tail. He stopped after a few meters and turned around to look back at the robot. Number Five drove after him despite the apprehension it was feeling. It just wanted to find its creator before it got into trouble.

Newton's tracks soon stopped after they came onto the concrete roads of the village. It had no idea if it was following the man anymore, but it decided to follow the dog's lead instead; he seemed to have some kind of goal in mind. Eventually the dog stopped in front of one of the houses and started yapping again. There was a car parked outside and the house lights were on.

"Beasley, silence!" Number Five hissed, but the dog did not listen. Fearing the inevitability of the residents coming out to investigate the noise, the robot slipped behind the car and watched the proceedings from a safe distance. Not long after it hid itself from view, the front door opened and a man poked his head out and stared curiously at Beasley. He opened the door wider and two small humans stepped out of the house. They were children, Number Five knew that, but it had never seen them so close before.

"Do you think it's a stray? If it's a stray can we keep it?" one of the children asked, bouncing on the balls of its feet.

Number Five's eyes narrowed. It liked Beasley too much to let anyone take him but it did not want to confront anyone; sometimes it was not the fear of people that held it back in social situations but the fear of what it would do to them if it lost control of itself.

"I don't think so, he's got a collar. Besides, we've already got a dog." The man was crouching down as he looked at Beasley's tag. "It says he came from Oregon. That can't be right. I wonder..."

The smaller of the two children seemed to catch a glimpse of Number Five. The robot had difficulty determining the gender because proportions were too similar at that age and so were their voices, but it seemed to be female. It froze up, thinking that if it moved it would only bring more attention to itself.

"Daddy, there's something weird behind the car."

"Huh?" He looked up at his daughter and then turned his head to peer behind the vehicle.

Their eyes met. Number Five was terrified about what the man might do and was petrified, caught between a fight or flight response.

He looked confused for a split second and then stood up, taking a tentative step forwards.

Number Five could feel its programming take over and it almost lunged, snarling, at the man. But fear was not something the program had been written to deal with and so it found itself growling whilst reversing. However that same fear did not stop it from charging its laser and aiming at the man's throat.

The man halted, clearly aware of what the oblong box mounted on its shoulder was meant to do. "Go inside and stay there," he told his children. They did what they were told and even took Beasley in with them, much to the robot's distress. "What are you and what do you want?" he asked it once the front door had clicked shut.

The robot did not answer, but continued to watch in case the man tried anything on it. The front door opened again and a woman came out, probably the man's partner. She did not look pleased about something, and unlike the man she did not seem fearful of Number Five's presence.

"Urgh," she moaned on seeing the robot. "Wherever he is there's bound to be one. Funny he didn't mention this one though; he usually brags about them."

"Is it safe? It sure doesn't seem very friendly." The man glanced at her.

Number Five looked at her and was a bit surprised when it realised that it recognised her, even though it had never met her before in its life. It lowered its laser gun, switching it off. "Crosby, Claire," it recited her name mechanically.

"Well actually…" she snapped, "I'm not Crosby anymore; I got married. And _he _never came to the ceremony."

It cocked its head in confusion, barely understanding what she was saying. She did seem to be angry with it though, and 'he' who it guessed was Newton. "Newton?"

"Well I'm glad he finally built that robot that he's been dreaming of since he was eight, but I always thought he would make it look a bit less _scary_. And why didn't he mention you?"

"Not understand." Its eyebrows shifted as it processed the little information it had. The woman was Newton's younger sister, that was all it had been programmed to know, and Newton had not mentioned his family much so all it had to go by was a few lines of code which were completely useless to it. It was most likely that the roboticist had put that information in without Nova's permission as it seemed a bit out of place.

"It was a rhetorical question," she told it moodily.

"I didn't tell you because those designs, unfortunately, ended up getting used by the military." Newton was standing on the corner of the short street. Number Five was amazed that it had not noticed him, but was so glad to see someone familiar that it charged over to the man and started rubbing the side of its head against his shoulder. But it quickly stopped after realising that it was doing that to Newton, a man it did not like much.

He walked towards his sister and Number Five followed silently in his shadow with the stealth of a large cat and the commitment of a working dog. It was tempted to grab Newton's ankles and trip him up, but the situation did not seem appropriate.

"So I couldn't say anything about it," he continued, putting his hand on its shoulder. It seemed he had dropped the bad mood he had earlier.

"So you're working for the government?" Claire looked both shocked and distressed.

"Not anymore. I quit after what happened with Number Five. _That's_ why I came back – because I wasn't tied down by them anymore."

Number Five turned to gaze at Newton's sister. It could not decide who to watch. It sensed tension between the two siblings as if they had fallen out over something in the past.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"It's a _long_ story," Newton said, sighing.

Number Five scowled, deciding to take the explanation as its own responsibility; Newton's long winded ones had gotten it into trouble before because he never got to the point fast enough. "I am conscious, not just autonomous machine."

"Yeah." Newton scratched the back of his head. "He's alive. But the military didn't see that. They saw a machine that didn't obey them and wanted to destroy him. That's what they did to the other units before anything happened to them. It would have been interesting to see if they were capable of developing a consciousness too."

Claire's eyebrows rose with surprise. It was difficult to tell if she believed what she was hearing or not. "There were others?"

"Yes." Number Five stared at the ground, suddenly feeling heavy and lost and it did not know why. It crouched down to a lower position and rested the side of its head on Newton's hip. But Newton shifted so that the robot could not lean on him anymore. Maybe he was still in a bad mood after all.

"Go home, Five," he said without looking at it. "I'll speak to you about it later, Claire. Now's not the time or the place for explanations really. I could have mentioned it earlier but it was difficult bringing it up."

"Why?" Number Five probed. It did not like the attitude Newton was suddenly taking with it. It did not feel wanted or liked.

"Just go. Don't follow me. I'll be home later." He walked away in silence, hands in his pockets.

They watched him turn the corner of the street and disappear out of sight.

"Do you know where he's going?" Claire's husband asked.

Claire nodded. "Yeah. He told me he was going to visit our father at some point; about time too. I'd imagine that's where he was heading when he left a few minutes ago, just before _he_ appeared." She glared at the robot scathingly. "Well?"

Number Five gave her an inquisitive look.

"Aren't you going to do as he says?" she asked, a peculiar level of authority in her voice. She leaned over it from the front door steps with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

After a moment's consideration Number Five announced: "No." It had no intention of going home without Newton.

Strangely enough, Claire just smiled and gave an amused half-laugh. "Stubborn, aren't you? A bit like him."

Her comment really baffled it, and it was expressed on its face. Claire turned towards her front door and put her hand on the handle, opening the door by a fraction. "I suppose you'll want your dog back."

Beasley did not come out of the house immediately, so Number Five emitted a whistling sound to call the dog. That got the dog running back. It could see the two children peering out of the windows at it, both looked awestruck and a bit disappointed that Beasley had escaped them.

Claire and her husband were about to go back inside the house, he went in first, but she turned around at the last moment and gave it another look, appearing to analyse it properly this time. "I think you're not quite what he wanted or expected. But you might actually do him some good. Be careful and don't spend too long looking for him. He always comes back…eventually." She seemed to be speaking more to herself. With that said she shut the door and locked it, leaving the robot more confused than it had been before.


	4. Chapter 4

Rows of stones jutted ominously out from the ground. The moonlight was bouncing off of them and made the place feel strange, almost unwelcoming. Each one had a name and a date on it, along with a message that had very little meaning to the robot. It had followed Newton this way and was beginning to regret it already, but the man was in sight now so there was little point in turning back.

Beasley was trotting along side just to keep up with its speed but the animal was holding little comfort for it in the sea of rock and earth. Its processor was hot with all the programs, thoughts, ideas and emotions running through it and it felt as if the component was about to burn out from all the stress it was going through. The sensation was getting worse as time went on and it was actually in a lot of pain but it did not utter any complaints; it did not like to show any weakness, so it ignored the agony it was in.

Newton was sitting on a park bench, his head resting in his hands. He briefly glanced up at the robot and then back at the ground. "I thought I told you to go home."

"Claire said I was stubborn. Like you. Why?"

He sighed. "I don't know." But it suspected him of lying.

Number Five crouched down and settled beside him. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking," he eventually said.

"Newton Crosby has brains? Number Five not know this," it joked, and waited for a response. A response never came and that disheartened it slightly, usually Newton would make some kind of reaction to its jokes, maybe not always laughter but at least it was some kind of response. It followed the man's gaze and found that he was looking at a polished granite stone. The first word that Number Five noticed was 'Crosby', the second 'Martin J'. Realisation suddenly dawned on the robot; this was a graveyard and that stone was a memorial to Newton's father. The death date etched on the stone was fairly recent too, as far as dates went. It was not new to Number Five however because its body was in production during that time.

Curiosity took it over and it slowly trundled over to the stone, standing right in front of it. It knew what death meant, but what it did not realise was the affect it had on the people who were close to the deceased. Maybe that was why Newton was behaving the way he was.

"Please don't stand on top of the grave, Number Five." Newton said. He sounded very distressed about it.

Number Five did not look at him, but partially did as it was told; it laid down on it instead. It did not often lie down because it did not really need to, however it would do it sometimes purely for the leisure of it or for a change. Despite Newton's obvious uneasiness, Number Five was actually really comfortable about the whole situation and his stress did not rub off on it. The idea of lying on top of the dead did not bother it either, if anything it felt like it was a little bit closer to the person that it never got to meet and even probed at the ground with numerous sensors to see what further information it might get. As expected there was nothing it could gather without digging, but even it was a little disgusted by going to such lengths.

Beasley lay down beside the robot and panted in its face, blurring its vision with the condensation on its glass eyes. It caught a brief glimpse of Newton's furious expression before its sight completely clouded over.


	5. Chapter 5

He was about to yell at the robot for disrupting his father's grave but then he remembered that the machine did not understand. Number Five could not possibly know what he was lying on top of, but it still confused him as to why he did not get off when he was told to. He knew the robot could empathise so it was not like he was unaware of his distress, nor was he spiteful so he would not be doing it to be mean.

Newton sighed unhappily and watched as the machine examined his surroundings. He had to admit that his behaviour was unusual; he seemed much more subdued than normal, and a lot more silently inquisitive. Maybe he _did_ know.

If Number Five did understand then his behaviour suggested that he was completely relaxed about the concept, or had completely different views on the subject of death. He was not human after all.

Sometimes the robot could seem incredibly human, until he noticed the differences in his body language, and most of that was taken from the way he had been originally programmed. If he was tired or uncomfortable about something he would crouch down to his lowest height, and Newton had a feeling that although it looked like a submissive position it could quite possibly be the same as a dog raising its hackles; in that position he could easily lunge forwards in attack, like a spring. It was also clear that Number Five had different needs; he liked to think he was doing something useful, and if he did not get any tasks, no matter how simple, he would roam their land methodically as if he was guarding the area and if he heard any noises he did not like he would growl, quite viciously in warning.

However, he had a very good-natured personality, which was probably heavily influenced by Stephanie; she was the first human he had met outside the laboratory and had grown very attached to her. Usually he was very patient; not always expecting direct answers immediately, and even when he did not get the information he needed he could stay calm and still retain his affability. On the other hand when he did lose his temper he could be unpredictable and aggressive, but at the same time he, luckily enough, seemed to have a conscience and morals; and those prevented him from becoming too violent.

There was no point in trying to getting Number Five to move. From his reaction to being told off the first time Newton knew that he would not budge. The robot could be incredibly stubborn at times. But he did wonder what he was thinking of as he laid on top of the earth, and speculated how deep his thoughts could actually go considering that he was barely a month old and a machine. How far Number Five could think outside the realms of logic and how strong his imagination was he could only guess. Maybe the robot's views on life were better than his own views.

Newton noticed that Beasley had breathed in Number Five's face and the robot's eyes had clouded over. There was nothing he could do about it; most of his extremities were hard and un-absorbent so it was impossible for him to wipe his eyes clear, though he seemed to make an attempt at it anyway. He watched the robot battle with the condensation for an amused moment until he realised that he could scratch himself, and then he knelt down next to him, gripping his head.

"Hold still." He used his sleeves to clean Five's lenses and then checked that they were not scratched. After all the robot had been through in order to obtain his freedom his eyes were, amazingly enough, still pretty much free from marks. "Better?"

"Thanks," he said and looked back at the headstone.

After a moment Newton asked: "What do you think?"

"I think he's dead," he said simply, gazing back up at him.

"Well yeah but…is that it?" Newton was a little bit disappointed by the robot's answer, even though he had his doubts about how deep his philosophical way of thinking was he had been expecting something insightful, which seemed a bit silly when he rethought it.

Number Five looked at the stone, then the ground and then back up at him. His eyebrows widened a fraction, usually a sign that he was being honest when giving an opinion. "Yes." He nodded.

"I suppose." Newton sighed, gazing at the soft ground and not caring that the wet was seeping upwards through his jeans and gripping his knees in coldness. He was probably expecting too much.

"But…" Number Five continued, expression screwing up with the effort of constructing his next sentence into recognisable English. "You remember him."

Now it was his turn to be confused.

"Hmm…he does not _not_ exist." Number Five seemed to have a terrible time uttering that sentence and flinched.

"What's the matter?"

"Not not. Equals does, but does not really." He rested his clumsy rectangular head on his lap. He looked oddly tired. "Life illogical."

Newton smirked at the robot's statement. "It sure is." He could see all of the sensors and devices on the top of his head and stroked them in a particular order that the robot seemed to like. The vents on the side of his head opened and his eyelids shut, but he did not make any sound.

"What was he like?" Number Five asked. His body was twisted into an odd position that looked rather awkward, but Newton suspected he was actually rather comfortable or he would have moved by now.

"Well he was my dad," he began. "We got on most of the time, until I joined Nova and couldn't really speak to people outside it much. I wasn't really allowed to say I worked there either. He wasn't pleased about my lack of contact. When he was dying I wasn't even allowed to leave the lab but I couldn't say why I couldn't go and see him, so he probably went angry at me. That's why I didn't want to come back; because I knew I'd be confronted by this."

"Why join Nova then?"

"Money I guess. The military discovered my designs and were going to use it whether I wanted them to or not. It was either join them and get credited, or waste all that time me and Ben spent on the plans and get nothing."

Number Five looked up again. "Not fair."

"Life isn't fair."

The robot did not seem to like that answer and jerked its head back. "Why live then?"

Newton stared. Maybe he was being too negative for the robot, and maybe for himself too. He remembered his father saying that life was not worth living if you couldn't have any fun. He smiled at that. Other quotes and images sprung to mind; some funny, others a little bit more depressing but even if the memory was negative he still cherished it because he could learn from it. Number Five cast him a questioning look by raising one of his eyebrows, clearly dumbfounded by the sudden change. He got up, wiping his jeans with his hands. "Come and follow me, Five. I'll show you something."


	6. Chapter 6

"But Newton, it's dark and big animals. Bears, mountain lions," the robot whined. They were standing on the edge of an old forest, just a five minute walk from the graveyard and Newton's old home, the one he grew up in.

"That didn't stop me when I was ten." He stepped over the old wooden fence and beckoned Number Five to follow. He looked at him as if he was stupid. "What's the matter, Five? Come on." He waved again.

Five took one brief look and grumbled: "fence is too high."

Newton raised an eyebrow, not believing him. "No it's not. You can clear it." It was unlike the robot to be lazy; usually he was excitable to the point where it was difficult to calm him.

After giving his wooden hurdle one nasty glare the robot backed up so that he could build up some speed before jumping. Considering the size, weight and poor aerodynamics of the S.A.I.N.T. robots they could leap impressively high. They were not exactly graceful; in fact they looked clumsy, especially as they landed. Number Five almost dived into a ditch by accident, screaming at the sight of it, but caught himself just before he fell into the stream at the bottom. He did not look happy when he pulled himself back up onto the flat.

"Did not tell me about stream." He glowered.

"You need a bath anyway." Newton remarked. He had noticed how muddy he had gotten since the morning and was actually quite impressed at how filthy he was. It was going to be difficult cleaning him up. "What have you been doing anyway? You're covered in dirt."

"Playing," he said innocently.

"By rolling around in the mud?" Newton took a hold of the machine's three-fingered hand, silently regretting doing so because it was cold and covered in wet soil.

"Not me. Dogs." He waved his other arm in the air nonchalantly. "Looked fun though. Almost tried it."

Newton shook his head in disbelief. It was a good thing that Number Five's essential systems were watertight. "Forwards." He led the machine through the forest which had changed very little since he was younger so he was confident he was going the right way.

"Where are we going, Crosby?"

Number Five kept on looking about the forest, his lights bouncing off of the tree branches. But Newton did not need them to tell where he was going; there was just enough light from the stars and the moon breaking through the branches for him to see by. "Shh! We're almost there," Newton tried to silence him.

"But…" he began.

They were very close now so he stopped and looked at Five's lit-up eyes. The sudden stop had caught the robot's attention. "Well you asked me what the point in living was." He looked upwards, seeing something catch the light of the moon; he knew he was at the right place.

The robot followed his gaze. A telltale flick of his head showed that he had spotted it, but the amount of whirring suggested he could not figure out what it was. "What…?"

"Keep going." Newton dragged Number Five forward before he asked anymore questions.


	7. Chapter 7

Stars shone down at them, plainly in sight. There was a small clearing in the forest where a number of trees had been hacked down and it was incredibly quiet. They were too far from the dirt path to hear any passing vehicles and all the birds had gone to sleep with the coming of the dark. Number Five studied the area quietly, revering the seclusion. It had shut down a lot of its systems just to hear the silence, though some it could not shut down and it was vaguely aware of the buzz those generated, though it was more of a feeling than a noise.

Newton was sitting on one of the smaller tree stumps and was gazing up at the hole in the forest canopy, back to back with the robot. Number Five could hear the beating of his heart.

After a few moments it turned its head to face Newton, suddenly realising that the man had not answered its question. "Newton?"

"Mmm?"

"Why do we live?" it asked.

The man looked up at it. "Well there's not really an answer to that question," he admitted. Number Five could tell he was being honest. "But my father always said there's no point in living if you can't have any fun. Of course he never remembered that whenever I and my friends came back home covered in dirt and bruises."

"What else did he say?"

There was a lengthy pause and a hum. "Those that ran for fear of death did not live. I think he just meant they spent so long worrying that they never had any fun or took any pleasure in anything they did."

Number Five looked back up at the sky. "I like it here. But what are those?" It pointed towards the strange shapes in the higher branches of the trees. The level of light made it difficult for it to see them properly and it could not even guess.

"Tree houses," he said, his tone suggesting he was smiling. "This place is a secret place that only I, my sister and our friends knew about. When we were old enough we cut down some of the smaller trees and used the timber to build with. We wanted to build a ring of tree houses around the opening and connect them, but we didn't get very far."

"Tree houses? Why?" It tried to get a better picture of them but failed, though it could vaguely make out little windows and doors. They must have been about fifty or sixty feet up the trees, and that was a bit daunting; Newton must be excellent at climbing.

"It was something to do, and a place to escape to."

"Escape?" It could not fathom what Newton might have wanted to escape from; he had not been on the run from the government when he was younger, at least it did not think so.

"Yeah. Escape from reality and create your own little world, where you don't have to worry about everyday mundane things."

"Oh." Things made a little bit more sense to it now, though explanations were not as detailed as it hoped for. The pain it had been ignoring for the past half hour unexpectedly made itself aware again and it cringed silently, shutting its eyes in an effort to reduce the environmental information it was receiving. Newton did not see it since he was looking in the opposite direction, but it was a wonder he did not notice the amount of heat the robot was generating. Number Five almost whimpered but stopped itself, pushing the overheating warnings out of its mind. But despite its efforts to ignore the pain, it could still feel the effects; its thought processes were slowing down and its systems were beginning to crash, making it feel tired, irritable and a little bit dizzy.

"Newton?" it probed tentatively, unsure how to bring its problem to his attention.

"What?" It felt Newton twist around to face it.

It suddenly did not feel like bringing it up, but it did not want to say 'nothing' lest the human caught on. "Can we build one?"

"Sure! Just not right now; it's too dark and we don't have the materials or tools."

Once again, the pain increased, but it managed to control itself and did not recoil. It wanted to think about other things; like when and how they were going to build a tree house, or fantasise about the books and films it had seen or read, but it was just not able. It physically felt horrible, and it was getting worse. It was also really confused because for the first time in its life it actually _wanted_ to sleep; its instincts told it that doing so would solve its problems. However, it knew it could not allow itself to loose consciousness right there because it would be dangerous in the middle of a forest, and there was no way Newton could carry it back home. It felt it was imperative that Newton knew how it was feeling, but its Nova programming and the idea of appearing weak, even to its creator, held it back.

Too absorbed in its problems it failed to notice Newton had been speaking.

"We used to come up with our own star constellations too. That one right there I think," he pointed at a number of stars, "that one we thought looked like Harvey being chased by Helen; they were an old couple that used to own some of our fields before my dad bought them off them. Helen was one mean woman, but Harvey was fun. I'm surprised they stuck together for so long. And see that one right there…"

"Newton…" Number Five interrupted, feeling desperate. The human silenced himself. "Not feel right," it blurted out before it could stop itself.

"Huh?" He turned his whole body around to face the robot properly. "What's wrong?"

"Overload." After finally telling him what was wrong it became much easier to talk about it. It cringed audibly as more pain came.

"Aww…" Newton sympathised, rubbing its shoulder gently. "Too much input for today, huh?"

Number Five nodded. "Want go to home."

Newton gave a small smile. "Why didn't you say anything until now?" He took a hold of its hand again and began leading it away from the clearing and back towards the path home.

"Talking to you uncomfortable," it said with a whine.

"I…oh." Newton looked confused. He seemed to think about something for a while. "You still don't trust me, do you?"

"Not much."

"Why not? I'm not going to hurt you; I care about you."

"Hmm…" Number Five moaned. It did not feel like analysing anything, but it did notice what Newton had said sounded honest enough and that lifted a lot of its doubts about him.

The human did not probe it any further, realising that it could not handle much conversation. It did not stop him from giving a little lecture though. "You weren't built to handle all of this. So you really ought to stop analysing things so much, and rest a bit more. You're brain clearly can't handle this much crap in one go." Newton chided it. He almost sounded like he was scolding himself too. "Look at the state of you."

Number Five did not respond, looking down at the ground whilst they wandered out of the woods. It did not feel guilty or sorry, but it knew Newton was right. "Mind going. Tired," it told him after a few moments of silence.

He rolled his brown eyes. "You must be feeling bad before you're admitting that."


	8. Chapter 8

It should not be taking them so long to get back home. But then time did not seem to be behaving properly; it slowed and sped up and did as it pleased. There was so much heat and pain that it could not feel either anymore, yet it was still aware of their presence like a persistent error message. The electricity slowly drained from it and it became a silent husk wandering aimlessly after its programmer in a night full of beautiful things.

-oOo-

If Crosby had said anything recently he had gone unheard by the object he spoke to. Only the trees and the nocturnal creatures stirring from their sleep would have heard anything. They belonged to a world where they could go about as they please, their very essence running in perfect tandem with their physical selves.

Not that that was the problem. The problem was it could not handle irrationality, and quite frankly that was what the human world was about. By its very nature it was nosy, like the very creatures that built it. It wanted, _needed_, to understand the world around it in order to function. But the irrationality of the real world, of people's emotions and actions, cannot be easily translated into mathematical functions, which was the language that it processed thoughts with.

As Newton walked along the dirt path with his hands in his pockets he came to realise that this problem would be with the machine for as long as it continued to function. And if it exerted itself like this too often and for long periods of time he did not think it would live very long before the circuitry in its central processing unit melted. He quickly glanced at the quiet robot, making sure it was still following him. It was. In a sense. He felt strangely sorry for it, because its very own existence was slowly killing it. Some parts would never be able to be replaced; in fact sometimes he was reluctant to even touch its circuits lest it did something irreversible to its personality. So in a sense the robot would age and it would probably age incredibly fast if it carried on the way it was going.

"Everything OK, back there?" he asked, not expecting much of an answer, if any. He heard a small grumble of sorts and that was it. Newton frowned, wondering what Stephanie would say about the state that Five was in; not only was he barely conscious but there was enough mud and dirt on him to make it look like he had been in some terrible accident. She could have quite a temper at times which she more often than not took out on him.

"We nearly home yet?" he whined. His voice grated and dragged out as if speaking was difficult.

Newton glanced sympathetically at him. "Nearly there." He took a hold of his hand and spurred him onwards with a little tug, which ultimately failed to increase his pace.


	9. Chapter 9

Oddly enough when they got back inside the house Newton could not find Stephanie. He had checked every room for any sign of her, but it seemed that she must have gone out to either look for them or tend to the animals. She was not stupid so the likelihood of her leaving the garden was incredibly slim at this time of night.

He decided to wait for her in the sitting room instead of calling and grabbed the TV remote off the coffee table, sat down and browsed the channels absent-mindedly, trying to keep his mind off of the previous events. Number Five's rectangular head shot up from behind one of the armchairs and his large eyes stared blankly at him. The robot had some odd habits and crouching behind things was one of them, the first few times he had poked his head up from behind something, he had unintentionally scared Newton. Unsure whether or not the robot was irritated by the noise of the TV, he turned the volume down just in case he could not sleep with it on.

But Five continued to stare at him. Although his expression was passive, in fact his eyelids were in the default half-lidded position of a S.A.I.N.T., he seemed inquisitive.

"Go to sleep," Newton commanded half-heartedly, pretending to be uninterested. He was intrigued by its behaviour though and no doubt Five's inbuilt lie-detector picked up on it. He wondered if it had picked up on his anxiety too. His thoughts were back on his father's grave, and also his mother, who he would eventually have to visit. And then there was also the concern that despite being so exhausted and in so much pain the robot had still not done anything to countermand its problems.

Another silent moment passed between them. Newton was about to repeat his command in a more forceful manner when Number Five reversed out from behind the armchair and trundled wearily along the floor, halting when his tread lightly touched Newton's foot.

"Something wrong?" he asked him. He began to wonder what might be preventing Number Five from going to sleep. "You can't have any malware; you haven't been near another computer in weeks." He began to list a number of technical problems that might have been up with the robot, but every time he just shook his head.

Finally Newton could not think of anything else and gave up. "Well what's wrong then? Why won't you rest and cool down?"

Five diverted his gaze for a moment. "Not know," he admitted.

Newton sighed irritably. "Then will you go to sleep before you damage yourself any further?" he snapped, gritting his teeth and wondering if the robot was deliberately being difficult with him. The warm feeling that he might have been bonding with it in the forest left him instantly.

"Ok," it mumbled dejectedly and squatted down to its lowest height, tucking all its limbs and head close to its body.

Satisfied, Newton turned his attention back on the TV only to be disturbed once more by the robot. This time it was shivering noisily. He frowned, knowing that Five did this when he was experiencing an incredibly strong emotion that he could barely control. This reaction was not specific to any one emotion so it was difficult for Newton to decide what he was feeling. But it did begin to dawn on him that whatever was wrong with him was not something he could fix with a screwdriver or another computer. He scowled; he was no good at comforting people; Stephanie usually tended to the robot's emotional needs.

And that's when it dawned on him. The reason why Number Five did not seem to trust him much was not because of their history, or the fact that he was a scientist that wanted to find out how his mind worked; it was because he did not connect with him being to being. He still mostly thought of the robot as a machine. And it was true that he was a machine, even in the robot's view because at times he did not want to be treated exactly like a human; he still needed exact orders at times, and even seemed to want them. However he did not always obey if the order was given in a disrespectful way.

Newton then put his hand awkwardly on Five's shoulder and chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Um…what's up?" he whispered into the robot's microphone. "Why are you shaking like that?"

Slowly he lifted his head and stared. It was a long time before he spoke. "I'm scared."

Newton's eyebrows rose. "Of what? Sleeping?"

He nodded once, seemed to think about something and then shook his head. "Not understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"Is like TV but…" He fidgeted with a loose thread on the sofa, delicately probing it with his powerful claw-like hand.

"But what?" Newton prompted.

"More real. But not real."

"I'm afraid you lost me there. I don't see how sleep is like TV."

Number Five looked frustrated; he pulled at the thread which unreeled. Newton had to bat his hand away before he made a hole in the fabric. His frustration seemed to dissolve really quickly though and was replaced by a bizarre limpness. Newton was beginning to worry about him as he looked not only exhausted, but ill and he knew there was nothing he could do to help, especially since he seemed to be fighting the urge to rest. It was not a requirement to shut down the S.A.I.N.T. robots; they could run continuously without any problems, but whatever it was about gaining a consciousness seemed to change that; Five's brain was struggling to cope with the amount of work it had to do.

"But Nova…" he started.

"Nova doesn't know you're here. Besides Skroeder was fired; and he was the one behind all the mess that started. If it weren't for him the other S.A.I.N.T.s wouldn't have been destroyed." And we'd probably be swamped by five highly curious and dangerous machines if he hadn't, but he did not say that out loud. "And if Howard ever finds out I think he'd be more willing to study you rather than destroy you. You're safe. Now will you go to sleep before your systems crash?"

"But they'll get me." He protested.

"They can't." Newton was starting to get a bit annoyed.

"I know." Five said. He grimaced in pain and whimpered. "But feels they do in not-TV, unrealistic real."

"Five, that doesn't make any sense, I think you're getting delirious." He put his hand on the robot's back and felt the heat emanating from his computer systems, even through his thick armour. He began to wonder if removing parts of his exterior and cooling his computer down directly would alleviate him a little.

"They'll get me. They always do."

Newton's eyebrows dropped as he tried to make sense of the Robot's last words. "What do you mean by 'always' get you?"

"When I sleep, Nova wakes me up." He said it slowly and with difficulty.

Newton smacked his palm against the side of his face, feeling a bit idiotic. "Ahh! Nightmares." He looked at Five and caught his confused expression. "How often does this happen?"

"Every time. Not like it so don't sleep."

"Well everything makes sense now." He patted the robot's head. "But they're just dreams so they can't harm you."

"Do you get them, Crosby?"

"I do, but they're not all bad." He wondered if Number Five would stop asking questions soon and settle down again. He had sneakily levered himself back up into a sitting position while he they had been talking.

"You get non-nightmares?" There was a tone of awe in his voice that also sounded a bit sad to Newton.

He nodded. "All the time. Most of the time anyway."

"How?"

He was almost about to say 'it just happens', but then he realised that would not help Five one bit. But it did not take long for something to come to mind and he smiled slightly. "Settle down again and I'll tell you."

Number Five did as he was told; only instead of tucking his head closer to his chest he rested it on Newton's knee. Newton was a little caught off guard by Five's sudden amiability towards him and almost forgot what he was going to say. "Now think of tree houses."


	10. Chapter 10

"Where the heck have you been?" Stephanie snapped. "I've looked all over for you. Even Number Five was worried."

"Shhh!" Newton hissed.

The TV had been turned back up again, which was strange because it could not remember that happening. Not that the noise was bothering it in the slightest.

"Is he sleeping?"

Number Five almost opened its eyes but decided against. It felt too comfortable to move; the pain had dulled and had been replaced by another, entirely new feeling which was probably relaxation. It barely knew where it was, but the noise between Stephanie and Newton had roused it slightly and knowing they were there stopped it from worrying.

"Yup, he's been practically comatose for half an hour now." Newton sounded like he was grinning.

Nobody spoke for a minute or so. "Newton, why's he so filthy? Didn't you think to clean him up a bit? There's tread marks all over the floor."

He made a thoughtful humming sound. "I couldn't really."

"Why not?"

There was another humming noise from him. "He wasn't feeling too good so I took him inside before he fainted. Don't worry; he'll be fine once he's rested for a while."

"What's wrong with him?" Her voice was full of concern.

"He was overheating," he said simply.

Number Five wanted to go back to sleep, but it also wanted to listen in on what its human friends were saying about it.

"Doesn't he have a fan or some kind of cooling system?"

"He does, and it works fine, the only problem is that he wasn't exactly built to deal with the extra strain of having thoughts and emotions. I think we're going to have to encourage him to sleep more often."

Stephanie snorted. "Good luck with that. I mentioned sleep earlier to him and he growled at me. If he won't listen to me I doubt you've got much of a chance, Newton."

"And I suppose you know why he doesn't sleep much?"

Their voices did not rise, but Number Five could tell the pair was possibly on the verge of an argument.

"No I don't, but just because you're a roboticist with a PhD doesn't mean _you_ know the right answer either. You can't analyse him with a screwdriver or a mathematical equation, Newton, so don't think you know him any better than I do."

There was a tense pause.

"It's nightmares," he eventually said. "I know because I asked him, with my _mouth_, not my screwdriver."

"Oh…I'm sorry." She sounded it and after a brief moment said: "I'm just mad that you ran off earlier."

Newton carefully lifted Five's head off of his knee and put it down on the sofa. It could hear the man stand up and then bend over again so he could stroke the sensors on its head. Its vents opened involuntarily from the sensation.

"Go back to sleep you little eavesdropper." He whispered so quietly that only it could hear. Still it did not bother to respond, though it did briefly wonder how Newton knew that it was listening to them speak.

"I just wanted to be on my own for a little while, but that didn't go to plan at all," he said, voice full of exasperation. The TV was then turned off.

"Oh, Newton." Stephanie sighed, but not in an irritated fashion. "Why won't you say what's wrong?"

"I guess it's because I feel guilty about it."

Number Five knew that was talking about not being there for his father, though it barely understood his situation. It was sure it heard them hugging and if it could have, it probably would have smiled. Satisfied that the pair weren't going to argue all night and keep it awake it stopped paying so much attention to its surroundings.


	11. Chapter 11

Hours dragged by and nothing much had happened, but the time seemed to slip by quickly. It was dimly aware of the time, but did not find it of any importance that it was fourteen hundred hours. Occasionally one of Stephanie's cats had brought it to its senses by rubbing itself against its treads, or probing at the uncovered wires and cables protruding out of its armour, but these occurrences did not last very long.

Newton's advice seemed to have worked, although instead of being hunted down by Nova, it was pursuing them, through the thick forests just outside the house, and it was enjoying being as strategic and as threatening as possible. The strange thing was most of its targets looked like half-rabbit half-Skroeder creatures and that only made it want to chase them more. It was possible it had spent too much time with Stephanie's animals.

"Five! Stop growling." Stephanie's voice snapped and it opened its eyes to find that it was still in the sitting room. It stared stupidly at the room, wondering where on earth all its quarry had gone. And then slowly it force quit the military tactics running through its brain, realising that they were not needed. The only person in the room was Stephanie, and she was sitting beside his head with her feet on the coffee table and a newspaper in her hands.

They looked at one another. Her expression was stern, but then it slipped into something looser. "How are you feeling?"

It took a small moment for it to gather itself; to load all the programs it needed for communicating and also a quick self-diagnostic once it recognised her question. It nodded and lifted its head off of the sofa. "All systems running at optimal efficiency."

"OK. I'm glad you're...feeling better."

Number Five straightened itself, revelling in the fact that the pain had gone and now it had a clear head. It was not too sure what happened whilst it slept but whatever it was had returned everything back to normal. In fact it was not even all that sure _how_ it had gone to sleep in the first place. It was not like it had gone into any of the different power modes available; this was something else altogether.

It glanced at the TV, wondering if Stephanie would let it watch it. She must have seen the hopeful look in its eyes because she put her paper down.

"No. Not now."

If it wanted to it could have easily turned it on with the right signal from its antennae, but it did not want to get on Stephanie's wrong side.

"Since you're back to normal we might as well get you cleaned up." Number Five tore its gaze away from the blank TV, knowing what Stephanie meant. It had only been cleaned once and had found the process rather dull; it was a long and arduous thanks to the number of places that dirt could get trapped.

She stood up and beckoned for it to follow her outside. It grumbled at the thought of having to sit for hours whilst she rubbed it clean with old towels and cleaning fluid. It got a bit of a shock when she turned the hose on it instead; stating that it was so dirty that the hose was the best method.

The water was very cold and although it did not care much for external temperatures it would have preferred it if the water was warmer. After a mere two minutes it said: "boring."

Stephanie smirked at it. "But doesn't it feel nice to get clean?"

Number Five thought about it for a small moment. "No," it said rather stubbornly. "Don't like water." It then added with a tone of disgust, "it's wet."

She tried to stifle a laugh. The robot cocked its head, not seeing the humour. "Not understand."

"It's just the way you said it," she explained half-heartedly. "Stay there I'm going to get a sponge and hot water; the hose isn't really working on you."

It watched her turn off the outside tap and disappear into the house. The opportunity to leave now before she came back was tempting and it quietly slipped away, avoiding the view of any windows that she might have been peering out of. But as it turned the corner of the house it encountered Newton who was working on one of the many devices he had in the back of his truck.

Not sure whether it had been seen or not, it continued to the edge of the garden, pretending that it was not doing anything wrong or trying to escape being bathed. Newton glanced up briefly but did not say anything, at least not until it had reached the fence that separated the garden from the woods.

"Where are you going?" he called out.

Five turned and looked at him properly. "Just a walk."

"No you're not," he snapped. This surprised Five; especially after how friendly he had been last night. It was unclear whether Newton thought that it was lying or that he was not letting it leave.

"Why not?" it asked unhappily.

"Because you're supposed to be getting washed. So get back there." He pointed towards the front of the house with the tip of his screwdriver.

"Don't like water."

"You're waterproofed and you're dirty so _tough_." He really did not sound like he was in a good mood. Number Five could not figure out why the man would change his attitude towards it so quickly and felt that all of its efforts to be friendly had been a waste.

Oddly enough, it was more upset than angry. But it refused to allow the emotions to surface. "Don't mind dirt."

"Oh don't be stupid; dirt's not good for you and you know it. Now go back to Stephanie and get cleaned up." He waved his hand around in the air and started probing furiously at the machine in his arms.

"But not like it," Number Five started, but the look Newton gave it was harsh.

"Shut up! Just do as you're told."

Number Five backed away from him. Newton had never snapped at it like that before; with an order. Any trust it had for him dwindled instantly. It drove away from him as fast as it could, returning to the front of the house where Stephanie was waiting with a raised eyebrow.

"Five, I thought I told you to stay put." She folded her arms.

It avoided her gaze. "Sorry," it mumbled unhappily.

"Why sound so glum? Hey look! I put lots of bubbles in the water." She out a bucket down onto the grass and let its curiosity get the better of it.

Number Five looked back up at her, wondering what was so special about bubbles.

"Well I thought you'd like them," she said disappointedly on seeing its expression.

For the next ten minutes she scrubbed relentlessly at its treads until the water became too dirty to continue. It did find the bubbles slightly amusing after a while, but they did not really seem to be helping speed up the process.

The pair did not speak much during that time; Stephanie seemed to think its silence was due to still being tired, but Number Five did not correct her as it did not want any conversation to turn to Newton's odd behaviour.

Eventually she went back inside to change the water. The robot watched her leave, deciding to stay this time. It seemed to be the logical thing to do; it was already wet and if it ran away now she would keep on trying to wash it until it was clean.

It heard Newton's footsteps behind it and it turned its head to look at him. He was carrying the device, now reassembled, in his arms and wore an unusual scowl on his face. "Bubbles?" Five offered a handful of them to Newton as soon as their eyes met.

The only reply it got was a sour 'hmph' as he passed it by on the way back inside the house. Five watched him enter with confusion. Although they had the odd moments where they did not get on very well it was usually because it refused to let him touch its circuitry, which was probably something of a letdown for him considering he was such a good engineer. But that was the problem; whenever he did have the chance to get anywhere near Number Five's systems he tended to forget that he was dealing with a being rather than a computer, and he became, somewhat ironically, cold and mechanical in his approach. It was because of this that it was reluctant to spend time with him.

After last night it had thought that it could begin to trust the man fully. Number Five's arm dropped and it let the lather in its hand slip onto the grass. Did yesterday not mean anything to Newton? Was he only lying again, as Stephanie had accused him of doing before when he was working at Nova? Or maybe it was something else altogether. Its thoughts began to wander back to yesterday's events and it remembered the things Newton had said in the graveyard.

Nova was just finishing building the S.A.I.N.T. prototypes when Newton's father had died, and Number Five couldn't help but feel that there was a connection between that and Newton's behaviour.


	12. Chapter 12

"Stephanie?" Number Five approached the woman as she was preparing a batch of cookies for baking. It seemed she was trying to start up a business in selling homemade food again. She looked surprised by its presence; she must have thought it was watching TV because that was what she left it in front of as a distraction. Sometimes she did that when she wanted some peace from it. And it had tried to watch for her sake, but for whatever reason it was finding it difficult to stay interested in the screen for very long.

Or maybe she was surprised because it hardly ever came to her when something was on its mind; she usually had to ask it what was wrong.

"Yeah?" she said eventually.

"I think Newton is malfunctioning." The man had left the house once again just an hour before and had not returned. He had given Number Five another of his sour looks.

She smiled. "He's just sad. People just show it in different ways."

"Why?" It probed. "Why sad?"

"Well he's never going to see his father again." She placed the tray in the oven.

"But he saw him. Yesterday." Number Five gazed at her, willing her to explain.

She sighed. "It's not the same. Look, Five, you're too inexperienced to understand just yet. But you'll find out one day, no doubt. Don't worry; he'll get over it soon."

"Think he don't like me." It said thoughtfully.

Stephanie shook her hear. "Of course he likes you. He's just-"

"Sad." Number Five finished her sentence with a nod. "Don't think he wants me. Think he wants his dad. Wonder if Martin still exist if he had son; if I never was built."

"Don't say that!" She took a few steps towards it, but Number Five reversed and left the kitchen before she could convince it otherwise.

It stood in the hall for a moment as it reflected on its words and watched as two kittens wrestled each other. They looked like they were having fun and it wondered what it was like to play like that, but the only thing that could withstand its full weight and power was one of its counterparts, and they had all been destroyed.

When Stephanie appeared in the doorway behind it Number Five left the house out the front door, scaring the two cats with the noise of its tracks. From the front door the woman looked out at it. She did not try to stop it from leaving, or get any closer; she knew it could lose her easily.

Instead of pursuing it she pointed a warning finger. "Don't hurt yourself." With that said she closed the door and left it alone. After a few minutes of contemplation it drove out of the garden and towards the little village.


	13. Chapter 13

"No it's _bad_! Don't do it again." The human pointed an accusing finger at the robot. Number Five scowled, disliking the tone being used on it. He did not have any authorisation to order it around, and even if he did it was unlikely that it would have obeyed.

"Did not harm anyone," it countered. "Only seeking Claire. Logical place this."

"You just came right in without any warning. You should have knocked." He snapped. Claire's husband seemed much surer of himself today. Their own dog was standing beside him, barking viciously and the man was not doing anything to stop it.

"Knocked?"

The man sighed, dragging his exasperatedly hand down his face. "What an idiot."

Number Five leered at the insult. Finally, it could take no more of the dog's constant noise and it snarled menacingly at it. On hearing the noise the dog quickly backed off.

"Hey! Don't you hurt him; he's just doing his job."

Number Five cocked its head. "Did not hurt. Could do _my_ job if prefer. That _would_ hurt."

Recognising the threat Claire's husband took a small step back. He looked very uncomfortable. "Just want to talk. With Claire." It dropped its unfriendly act and looked hopefully up at him.

"I knew she said her brother was weird but I never expected a man and a robot to show up on our doorstep," he said, half to himself. "She's actually at the graveyard with your master."

"Nobody _owns_ me," Number Five corrected him.

"Alright, don't blow a fuse." He put up his hands in an almost defensive manner; clearly he was intimidated by it but not enough to say ridiculous things. Number Five grimaced at what might have been an attempt at a joke. "Sorry."

It turned away and headed out of Claire's house without saying another word. Obviously just entering someone else's home was not good etiquette, even if it had met them before. It still had a lot to learn about domestic living.

"Um…bye then," he muttered, taking a hold of the front door handle. He looked eager to shut the door.

"Bye?" it queried.

"Something tells me you've not been around many people." He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Not many. Most had weapons." It admitted.

His eyes widened very slightly at that and he made a sound. "Well not walking into homes uninvited might be a start; just a bit of advice."

"OK." It nodded once and was about to roll away when a question came to mind. "Name?" it demanded. It did not seem very appropriate to keep calling him 'Claire's husband' when it was possible that it might see him more often.

"David. David Johnson. What about you? Don't you have a name?"

It was about to spool off a long list of information, but that did not seem like such a good answer. It paused. "S.A.I.N.T. Prototype Number Five."

David chuckled at it. "Is that it? We can't call you that; that's not a proper name."

"But…it _is_ my name," it muttered. But on some levels it did agree with the man; it was not a particularly great name; it seemed very impersonal, and it did not want to be associated as having a personality like that. Maybe a new name or at least a nickname would be a good thing. "Will think about it," it told him after a moment and trundled away towards the graveyard.


	14. Chapter 14

David was right; both Claire and Newton were where he said they'd be. Not that it particularly doubted the man's words but still it noted that he had told the truth. There was a few other humans close by, but they did not seem to have noticed its presence at all. It was unsure how anyone would react to it so was careful to stay pretty inconspicuous whilst it got closer to Newton.

The two siblings were talking to one another in hushed tones about their family. It seemed that Claire was trying to comfort him, or trying to convince him to go and see someone; it was not very sure. She was the first to spot it, and she smirked ever so slightly. Number Five then realised that it was not so sure why it had been looking for her in the first place; maybe it thought she would be able to do something about her brother's behaviour, but it seemed she was already doing that without it having to ask. Humans were strange; they seemed to know what to do or say in order to make another feel better.

"You know I don't think everything turned out all that bad," Claire muttered to him, nudging him with an elbow. "Look, here comes trouble."

"Huh?" Newton looked up and their gazes met. "Oh. That trouble."

Number Five did not understand why Claire had referred to it as that, and just to make sure she had not been talking about something else, it glanced behind and saw nothing out of the ordinary. It gave the pair a questioning look.

"Well what are you doing standing there like a brainless chicken?" Newton beckoned, "come here, you."

He did not sound angry, if anything he sounded happy, which was completely the opposite of what he had been that morning. The robot stared, not understanding why his moods could change so quickly without explanation. It did not know whether to take 'brainless chicken' as an insult or a joke, so it stood where it was, trying to make sense of him. "Inconsistent treatment. Do not understand your motivation."

Newton's expression dissolved, and his beckoning hand dropped. He seemed to think about something for a moment and then came towards it, wrapping his arms around it. "I'm sorry if I seem a little angry at times. I don't mean it."

Number Five was dumbfounded by his gesture. Only Stephanie had tried this kind of action on it before. It still was not very sure what it meant, but it was slowly warming to the idea of it.

"Five, you really ought to learn how to hug." Newton said, snickering slightly. He took a hold of its arms and tried to place them around him. Number Five left them there until Newton pulled away, during the short time they stayed like that it tried to figure out what it all meant. Meanwhile Claire looked like she was trying to stifle a small giggle.

It could not help but stare between its hands and Newton for a minute after they separated. "Why?"

"I was just trying to make you feel a bit better," he said. "I care, alright? Even if I seem angry at times."

"But…" Number Five started. "Why do humans hug? Do not get it."

"To comfort." He patted Number Five on the head. That simple action seemed to bring something to mind because his eyes lit up. "Of course… you wouldn't understand. You haven't been conditioned to feel touch in the same way; it's just a sense to you." He stroked the top of its head, gently tickling its more receptive sensors. It always liked that and found it difficult to hide the fact; it shut its eyes and tilted its head forwards. "You'll probably begin to associate hugs as comfort over time though."

He took his hand away and the robot opened its eyes again.

"Hey have you ever shown the kids the tree houses, Claire?" Newton turned to her. Claire seemed surprised by the question.

"No. I don't think they've found it either otherwise they would've said something, and probably would never shut up if they did. Why?"

"Well I showed him." Newton pointed at Number Five. "And he said he wanted to build one."

She laughed, not unkindly. "Alright I see where this is going. But I do find it hard visualising Five climbing up those trees, Newton."

"Newton?" Number Five interrupted, probing his checked shirt with a finger.

"Yeah?" He looked at him with raised brows.

"Hmm…not think 'Number Five' is silly name? "

"He's got a point there, Newton. You know if you're serious about all this you might as well give him a name that complements his personality. I know that's what the old you would've said." Claire pointed out. Number Five nodded, agreeing with her.

"Well, what would you want to be called?" Newton asked, turning to it.

Five was at a blank. It could not think of anything. "Not sure."

"Not many people get to choose their names you know," he encouraged it.

"Still not know. You decide." Five waited patiently for a reply.

Newton chewed his lip for a while. "You trust _me_ to name you? Not Stephanie?"

"Not want a name like 'Beasley', or 'Quothe' or 'Pepper'. No animal name. Especially not '_Fluffy_'."

He laughed. "I don't know; you kind of suit Fluffy." Number Five scowled at him. "Just joking." He did not say anything for a moment, his eyes seemed to dart around the numerous headstones in the graveyard, then rested on his father's. "I've got an idea."

Both his sister and the robot looked at him, awaiting his suggestion. "Come here, Five. I think you might like this one."

It complied and let Newton gain access to its systems monitor. After pressing numerous keys he finally reached the option to edit the name it was supposed to respond to and overwrote 'S.A.I.N.T. Prototype Number Five with something new. All in all it did not take him very long; he'd been working on its systems for years so probably knew it very well. Once he finished he closed the interface and stepped back. "What do you think?"

"Johnny?" It queried, not sure of Newton's reasoning for this. Despite the fact that Newton had changed its name formally it was taking it a while to set in properly.

"That's a nice idea," Claire said.

"You're now named after our father; it was his second name. Well Jonathan actually, but I think you suit Johnny better. Don't you like it?"

It thought for a moment, letting the idea sink in. Eventually it nodded. It made sense in a peculiar way. Not only that but it suddenly felt that the act of naming it after someone he clearly loved was a sign that he had finally accepted it as a being. There was no guarantee that there would never be any more off moments between them, but it certainly found itself trusting him and even liking him more than what it had done before. The electric current running through its systems increased and it let out a garbled noise of excitement before leaping on top of him, knocking him to the ground.

He screamed, but after realising he was not being attacked by a heavily armed machine he calmed down. "This better be affection and not dominance," he warned. People were looking at them, but for once it did not care, not even if what they were seeing was a massive robot, quite capable of killing, pinning Newton to the ground.

"It's affection," it assured him, rubbing its head against his.

"Great, but maybe be a bit gentler in the future; I think you broke some of my ribs."

"Crosby wants more affection?" it asked gleefully.

"Well…yes. But only if it's a little bit less…painful."


End file.
